My tribute to Dilma Rousseff

I imagine how difficult it must be for the woman who presides over our country, Dilma Rousseff, to look at the photos of the demonstrations that took place in the streets on March 15th – and widely reproduced by traditional and social media – posters with slogans such as "Military Intervention Now! Brazil demands order and progress." Or others, calling for American intervention with phrases in English; or calling for the closure of the Supreme Court, the removal of a government elected at the polls, and even personal insults, which I refuse to reproduce here.

It must be deeply painful for Dilma Rousseff to see part of her own people submerged in a sea of ​​machismo, fascism, and some even praising Adolf Hitler. She, of all people, who was imprisoned and tortured for defending democracy and freedom of expression. I imagine how her daughter, Paula, and her mother, Dilma, are feeling, because the incitement and manifestations of hatred in the streets are intended to hurt not the president, but Dilma the woman, her soul, her self-esteem. All this reveals more than a political dispute embedded in the agenda of a supposed third round; it reveals the intolerance against women still alive in society.

I feel that the demonstrations opened a release valve for the most unconfessed and repressed male chauvinistic pride – also manifested in many women; for the most unconfessed pettiness. Something that, if done against another woman, another human being, would trigger lawsuits for moral offense and public reprimands for its author. And I don't criticize the act of protesting, of demonstrating against government policies, against corruption. Not at all. Many victories have come from protests, from the strength of collective action, from the struggle of workers and social movements. Protesting is the soul of democracy.

Therefore, I stand in solidarity with you, Madam President (a gender inflection that also causes discomfort), against the lynching they intend to orchestrate. And I say more: you will emerge stronger from this process. You, Madam President, are a courageous and warrior-like woman, our inspiration. Your defenses are your ideals of equality, freedom, social justice, and ethics.

Your courage to continue thinking about the collective good, about those who seek a dignified future, is your inseparable ally, no matter how much they want to take that away from you. No matter how much they want to bring you down.

Defend your convictions, defend democracy, defend political reform, defend social programs, defend dialogue, popular participation; defend the pre-salt oil reserves, defend Petrobras, defend the honor and dignity of the Nation; defend education, health; social movements, defend your party, because we are all together, wherever we are, defending the sovereignty of this country side by side with you.